Nuremberg

I struggled to wake up this morning, so took my time and gave breakfast a miss. I have to say that the novelty of all this food is starting to wear off! I wasn't very hungry last night, and had no appetite this morning.

We were on the bus at 9 am for our medieval tour of the city of Nuremberg, where we'd sailed to overnight. The alternative tour was the WWII tour, which Jan and Steve took. I was thinking I might be sick of hearing about and seeing medieval things, but we thoroughly enjoyed the tour with an excellent guide.


Nuremberg is the second largest city in the German state of Bavaria, with a population of 500,000 and first appears in the records in 1050, and during the 13th century developed into one of Europe's greatest trading towns. The "Burg" (Citadel) was built in the 11th century and the medieval city walls were completed in 1452 with a total of 126 towers. In the mid 19th century, a train engine was brought to the town, and from then it became a huge rail centre, and the population grew even more.

90% of the city was completely destroyed during WWII, (in 90 minutes in 1945) and the historical buildings we saw had mostly been rebuilt, using the very same stones. Adolf Hitler chose the city as the site for his annual Nazi Party rallies. Later the city became the location of the Nuremberg Trials.

On the main square is the market (Hauptmarkt), and there is a famous fountain known as the Schoner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain - it has no water in it now) and the Marienkirche, Nuremberg's most famous church. The famous St John's Cemetery has some famous names in it, and is very pretty. But you have to pay rent to be buried in cemeteries here, and here, when the rent stops, a body will be disinterred, and a new one put in its place. In this cemetery you are not allowed to change the name or details on the headstone, so it could have the name of someone buried 500 years ago on it!

The Imperial Castle (Kaiserburg) was especially interesting. Its construction, with the entry gate located on a curve so that battering rams and canon balls could not get a suitable angle or speed for attack. Through the gate was a tunnel, where you could be attacked by boiling oil and fire dropped through holes in the roof. Next was a small courtyard with very high walls where you could be further attacked. And there were high and cleverly constructed walls around the castle, the length being 5 km. The castle walls were never breeched in its entire history. In WWII it was largely saved, too, because the bombers needed to keep it as a landmark in the dark. Ironically, the easiest to see landmark in the city, became the safest place to be!

Under the rock that the castle was constructed on, are lots of tunnels, up to 4 storeys high, and dug out by hand over the centuries as a storage place for beer! During WWII these tunnels became the ideal location for safe storage of various treasures, stained glass windows from the churches, art works (their own as well as those pillaged during the war and taken from the Jews). It was a safe location for people to take shelter as well. It was amazing to hear how the city decided to rebuild/reconstruct the medieval town after the war, in the same plan as from former times. There are, no doubt, some great ideas on this for Christchurch, although we also have to overcome the earthquakes.

We walked down from the castle and looked at some interesting statues (hearing the stories behind them), then past St Sebaldus Church, and then we were into the market square with an hour to look around the shops and fruit/vegetable stalls. There were some great buskers performing in front of the Church of Our Lady, and later St Lawrence's Church. I hope Christchurch eventually takes on the look and feel of the shopping area around here, it was lovely, the most pleasant to walk around of all the city areas we've been in so far. And what is more, it was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day with blue sky that we hadn't seen for a while!

Back to the boat for lunch (note, you can choose from the 5 course a la carte menu at lunch or dinner, or have the "light" lunch up in the lounge). Then we adjourned to the lounge to relax and read our books (in my case on the kindle app on my iPad). I got some photos and videos as we went through one of the enormous locks on this part of the Rhine-Main-Danube canal. Marion also gave an interesting slideshow presentation of the development of the canal - it was amazing to see the steps we were going up with each lock (sometimes we moved up a 25 metre step) as we made our way towards the Continental Divide, and the Danube River, and then we were stepping down towards the second half of our journey.



At this point where we changed from going up to the Continental Divide, we were all on deck with a glass of champagne, to witness the moment we passed the monument marking the spot. We also now have a certificate to mark the occasion, rather like crossing the equator.



After dinner we had an enjoyable '60s Night' with great music. Jan and Steve were in the dancing game, and got down to the final 3! Marion and the waiters dressed up in 60s attire and wigs to match!